Why your Small Group Leaders need “The Art of Group Talk — Kids”

I’ve always believed in leading small. It was the foundational principle of every ministry I’ve led throughout my ministry career. I believed in it so much because it was truly the way I came to faith in God. And the idea that “The best way for a kid to know God was for them to know someone who knows God” was personally true for me.

After I found out how much I believed in this strategy so much, I decided to go into a career where I could help Small Group Leaders improve at what they’re already good at. But as I led small group leaders, I was constantly hit with the same questions from them— “How am I supposed to have real conversations with kids? Sometimes we spend our entire morning talking about absolutely nothing.” My reply would always be the same: “Your conversations matter so much more than you think. Trust me.”

That’s why after compiling information, tips, and techniques over the last ten years, I partnered up with an amazing leader, Afton Phillips, the Director of Lead Small, and we decided to write “The Art of Group Talk: Kids”. We have been met with an overwhelming response! We had a leader write to us recently to say they gave one to every Small Group Leader in their ministry and their conversations were almost immediately transformed. And when you pour your heart and soul into something, feedback like that makes it worth all of that work.

Here’s a snippet from the book:

When leading a small group of kids, sometimes you have to beg them to say something—anything.

But more often than not, you wish they would lose the ability to speak altogether.

And maybe sometimes, you probably head home after a particularly challenging small group and wonder,
“Did I say the right thing?
Were they even listening?Do these conversations matter at all?”

If you’ve ever been there, you’re not alone. Everyone who has ever led a small group of kids has, at some point, wondered if they were completely wasting their time. (We don’t exactly have the data to support this claim, but we’re still pretty sure it’s true.)

And on days when your group spends more time turning their activity pages into paper airplanes than engaging in a conversation about faith, those questions are understandable.

But the next time a conversation goes completely off the rails and you’re wondering if you’re a terrible small group leader—or if you think leading a small group of elementary schoolers should be classified as a new form of torture— there are two things we hope you’ll remember.

Here’s the first:

Your small group conversations matter.

. . .

That’s where the snippet ends! We can’t give too much away!

Want to know the most amazing thing? We released it at The Orange Conference 2017, and it SOLD OUT immediately! Good news is it’s back in stock, and you can get it here!

We can’t wait for you to read it and to understand the value and importance on the conversations with the kids you lead. Simply because they matter so much more than you think.

Written by Adam Duckworth
Lead Communicator
Downtown Harbor Church in Fort Lauderdale, FL.